norton



March 22, 1960 c. NORTON 2,929,145

sLIvER MEASURING DEVICE Filed Dec. 21, 1956 BY -wM ATTORNEYS koperating properly and when it is not.

SLIVER MEASURING DEVICE Charlie L. Norton, Danville, Va., assigner to Dan' River Mills, Incorporated, Danville, Va., a corporation of Virginia Application December 21, 1956, Serial No. 629,921

1 Claim. (Cl. S25-127) The present invention relates to a sliver measuring device for textile cards.

It is one object of this invention to measure accurately the amount of sliver processed by a textile card. Another object of the invention is the provision of means for measuring the productivity of carding machines to enable accurate payment of card operators on a piece-work basis.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of means for activating and inactivating a counter for textile carding machines in accordance with the productivity or lack of productivity of the machine.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the invention and the attached drawings.

In general, the objects of the invention are accomplished by the provision of a conventional counter mounted on a conventional card, means for operatively connecting and disconnecting a portion of the card coiler driving means with the counter, means for determining whether sliver is being-fed into the coiler, and means for activating said connecting and disconnecting means in response to said determining means.

More specifically the invention comprises a conventional counter for a conventional card, means including a clutch for connecting a drive shaft of the card coiler mechanism with the counter, a sensing device, preferably a feeler, for determining whether or not sliver is being fed into the calender rolls of the card at any given instant of operation and means responsive to the feeler for activating said clutch to cause the counter to be operatively connected with the drive shaft when the sliver is coming through the calender rolls and to cause the counter to be disconnected when the sliver is not coming through the calender rolls.

The gist of the invention is to make the operation of a card counter responsive to the ilow of sliver through the calender rolls of the card coiler, while using the usual card driving means for operating the counter.

The preferred sensing means is a feeler positioned between the trumpet and the card calender rolls. Of course, other equivalent means for sensing may be substituted, as ythe only critical requirement is that there be a positive distinction between the time when the card is By placing the sensing means just ahead of the calender rolls, nearly all carding failures will be caught and reected in the final measurements. Likewise, of course, any equivalent means may be substituted for the clutch. In other words, there is nothing critical in the clutch structure, per se; either a mechanical or electromagnetic clutch, for eX- ample, could be used successfully. Likewise, those skilled in the art will be aware of numerous means for making the clutch responsive to the sensing means. What a drive shaft 16.

is critical in this invention is the operative combinationv of the driving means, the counter, the interposed clutch,A lthe sensing means, and the means making the. clutch (and thence the counter) responsive to the sensing means.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the attached drawings, illustrating the preferred form of the invention and in which:

Fig. l is a digrammatic sectional view of a card coiler head constructed in accordance with this invention, and

Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating the electrical system inter-relating the sensing device and the magnetic clutch.

By reference to Fig. l, it will be seen that the coiler head includes as conventional elements a supporting bodylG, a hinged top 12, a pair of calender rolls 14 and It also includes a standard trumpet 18 mounted on the top 12 for guiding sliver 20 to the calender rolls 14 from whence it is coiled by a conven` tional mechanism not illustrated. On one side of the body 10 there is mounted a counter 22 which may be a hank clock of any known type. Drive shaft 16 which ordinarily drives the coiling device and the calender rolls is also used to drive the hank clock by means of bevel gears 23 and 24, shaft 26, clutch 2S and gears 30 and 31.

For purposes of illustration, Fig. 1 spaces the trumpet from the calender rolls a distance considerably greater than is normally used. In this space, there is a feeler arm 34 pivotally mounted on the underside of top 12 by a bracket 36. It will be seen that one end of arm 34 is in engagement with the moving sliver 20, so long as sliver 2% is passing through trumpet 18 to calender rolls 14. It will also be seen that if sliver 20 is not passing through the coiler head in the usual manner, feeler arm 34 will gravitationally pivot itself to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1.

An electrical system is provided for operating clutch 2S in response to the position of feeler arm 34, so that hank clock 22 will only be operative when the card coiler head is operated properly. This system includes an A.C. line of the usual l1() volt type, leading to a rectifier 40. The output of the rectifier is connected to clutch 28 (as can best be seen in Fig. 2) by a circuit which in cludes, in series, a contact 42 carried on the end of feeler arm 34. Clutch 28 is of a conventional electromagnetic type and is in engagement only when contact 42 is closed.

Thus, in operation, so long as sliver 20 is moving properly between trumpet 18 and calender rolls 14, the feeler arm 34 will be in the full line position of Fig. 1 with contact 42 closed. in this position, the electromagnetic clutch will be engaged and drive shaft 16 will operate counter 22 to give an accurate measurement of the amount fo card sliver being handled by the particular card in operation. If, for any reason, the sliver is broken, even though the coiler head may continue to operate and drive shaft 16 may continue to run, feeler arm 34 will immediately shift to the dotted line position-of Fig. 1 opening contact 42 and disengaging magnetic clutch 28, so that the counter 22 will not be operative.

By using this device, an accurate record fo the production of the card may be maintained and this enables accurate piece-work payment which is often beneficial to employer and employee alike.

I claim In the combination of a textile card and a sliver measuring device wherein the card includes a coiler head, coiler drive means including a vertical driven shaft, a pair of calender rolls on said coiler head beneath a trumpet for feeding sliver to said rolls, said calender rolls References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Haselden Sept. 24,

Sundh et al Apr. 10,

Kershaw et al Oct. 27,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Jan. 14,

Germany Sept. 3, 

